Controversial Opinion about Dadvid?

Got inspired by Lit By Moonlight to post this, but I sorta have an unpopular opinion as somebody that’s half-Asian:

Dadvid, when written in fanfiction and headcanons, *can* often be depicted in a racist matter.

It’s extremely common to see white savior tropes within Dadvid fanfiction (whether unintentional or not), and I honestly haven’t seen people point this out besides a mutual of mines.

A lot of the times, fanfic writers will depict Max’s parents as these INCREDIBLY abusive people and always make David the hero that saves the day.. which isn’t a bad idea in it itself, but gosh it heavily stereotypes a lot of immigrant parents (especially Asian people, but this is more specifically about South Asians). If you know anything about being Asian or just a POC in general, it is VERY common for children and parents to not communicate with each other well (especially when there’s a language and cultural barrier between the two), and I won’t deny that abuse is very common within Asian households that often gets mistaken as ‘discipline’ (e.g. spanking, punishment, etc).

My mom herself didn’t have a good relationship with her mom growing up in America as first-gen Chinese immigrants, so this experience is very universal to many Asian people. I EVEN struggle with even communicating with my own mom because of the cultural difference the two of us have. She was raised differently, and so was I.

Now, I understand if you’re a victim of abuse/neglect yourself and you cope by writing Dadvid. That’s totally fine and I get it! But it was just so blatantly obvious when a writer obviously didn’t go through said trauma or didn’t even bother to do research and just make David the white hero.

And this isn’t me saying that Max isn’t a victim of possible abuse/neglect. However, you do have to note that it is canon that his parents came from India — which means their probably working their asses off 24/7 to themselves and their son financially, and when you’re young, you don’t understand those things very clearly. Yes, Max does know about money and he is rather mature for his age, but it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s aware about his family’s financial situation.

And it’s also very possible that there’s a langue barrier between Max and his parents as mentioned before. When there’s a language barrier, some things *literally* don’t translate into each other and can form miscommunication — which can taint people’s relationship with each other.

Again, this isn’t me saying that you cannot write Dadvid when abusive families are part of the topic. As long as it’s done respectfully, it’s okay! This is just my two cents as an Asian person.